at their backs.
“Oh, please. Accusing me of cheating is a sore loser’s excuse for not winning, mo bhrathair.” She smiles at him. “You need to improve your footwork. It’s terrible.”
Kiaran doesn’t seem fazed. “I don’t believe you.”
It’s amazing how calm they both are. Before any battle, I feel electric. My heart slams against my chest and I can barely stay still. Energy heats my skin, melting the ice there. It brings me to life. Not like before, not with vengeance or anger or rage, but with purpose. I want Lonnrach’s soldiers to see me like this, not the girl whose memories he stole. When Lonnrach catches word of who killed them, I want him to know that it was Aithinne and me together. That he never broke us.
My blunderbuss is already in my hand, loaded and ready to go. Its wide spray injures groups of fae more effectively than a sword would in an initial attack. I’ll save the blade for closer combat.
Over Aithinne’s shoulder, Kiaran catches my eye. I see a mirror of my anticipation there. Aye, he loves this part as much as I do. The calm before a squall.
We wait until the Seers draw closer. The three men stop short, their metal fae horses protesting at their forceful halt. “What do you think you’re doing?” Daniel’s face is flushed, a bloody gash across his forehead.
My anticipation calms me. This must be the way Kiaran and Aithinne feel: No emotions, just a readiness.
I want this. It’s such a simple thing. There’s no room for fear or panic. Only the way the weapon fits in my hand, the way my body lights up at the thought of battle. How different it is from the insatiable hunger to kill.
“We’re here to save your arse,” I say. “Get to the city and stay there. We’ll hold them off so they can’t follow.”
Lorne growls deep in his throat—and it isn’t a pleasant sound. “You’re barking mad,” he says. He gestures to Aithinne and Kiaran. “These two are immortal; if they want to fight their own, let them. Ladies have no place on the battlefield.”
Aithinne looks amused. “Says the man running from the battle. Ye’re feart, Seer?”
Lorne looks away. Aye, definitely afraid.
“Lorne’s right.” Daniel holds a hand out to me. A truce; he’s offering to protect me. “You shouldn’t be here. It’s not safe.”
To Daniel and Lorne, a human facing an army of faeries—especially a woman—is condemning herself to death. Daniel is trying to save me, the way he did Catherine.
Before I can answer him, Gavin says quietly, “Let her.”
Daniel turns his head in surprise. “I beg your pardon?”
“She’s not what you think she is,” Gavin says. Daniel and Lorne look at him like he’s gone positively mad, but Gavin’s gaze doesn’t waver from mine. “Make sure you come back this time. I doubt I’ll be alive in another three years.”
Gavin turns his horse to go, and Daniel and Lorne reluctantly follow. I’m sure they’ve left people behind before. I had to learn that lesson myself: You can’t save everyone.
Kiaran, Aithinne, and I watch the faeries make their way down the snowy hill. When they see us, they let out deafening howls that echo across the field.
A war cry. The same one Lonnrach bellowed when Aithinne and I were in the Sìth-bhrùth.
They come for us, stronger, faster than I remember seeing them in the Queen’s Park. This is the moment before our two groups meet, a space between heartbeats when we are all still and quiet and ready.
“Dismount,” Aithinne says.
Kiaran slides off his horse and I follow. In a human battle, staying on our horses would give us the advantage of height, but against the fae . . . redcaps would be able to cut through them in seconds. Aithinne’s power is thick in my mouth as she sends the horses off. They flee toward the trees in a blur of hooves; I simply blink and they’re gone.
“Steady,” she whispers to me this time. “They’re going to make a move for you by breaking this section of the crag. When they do, stay still.” She sounds like she knows what she’s doing, like she commanded an army once.
“Well. All right.”
Her smile is fierce. “Don’t worry; I think I’m going to be great at this.”
“You think?” Oh, god, I’m going to die, aren’t I?
I follow her line of sight and watch the fae come for us. They are a blur of ice and wind, horses with daoine sith riders, faeries beautiful and deadly and